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Trump says Navajo Nation will get more than $600 million in COVID-19 aid

Arizona tribes soon will receive "the single largest investment in Indian country in our history" to battle the effects of COVID-19, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday during his visit to Phoenix.

The Navajo Nation, which includes vast stretches of land in northern Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, soon will receive more than $600 million and the Gila River Indian Community will receive $40 million in initial CARES Act funds to protect citizens from "the scourge, this plague, from what we're all fighting in this country," Trump said.

The Navajo Reservation has been one of the hardest-hit areas in the country for its rate of COVID-19 infection.

"The amount of money that's being sent to Indian country, as we call it, is the largest amount in the history of the U.S., and you deserve it. You went through a lot," Trump said.

The White House later issued a press statement about the tribal allocations that was less specific than Trump's about the value.

An initial allocation of nearly $5 billion of a promised $8 million from the CARES Act "will be one of the largest programmatic investments in Indian country in our nation's history," the press statement says.

Tribal officials say the money is needed to keep their governments running.

The CARES Act will allow the Navajo Nation to provide government services without having to further deplete its general fund, tribal officials said in a news release.

By March 20, less than a month after the pandemic hit the reservation, the tribe already had spent $4 million on COVID-19 response efforts, including equipment for health care providers and emergency response personnel on the ground, as well as medical supplies, food, water and public outreach, officials said.

The tribe's executive branch said it will provide a "comprehensive plan" for using the money.

Lawsuit over CARES Act

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Highlights of President Donald Trump's speech with special local guests at the Honeywell facility that makes N95 masks, on May 5, 2020, in Phoenix.
Arizona Republic

Through its Coronavirus Relief Fund, the CARES Act is allocating money to state, local, and tribal governments, all of which are spending more on public health and taking in less revenue because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Tribes across the country say they have yet to receive any of the promised $8 billion from the CARES Act, which was signed into law March 27.

The Navajo Nation, the Gila River Indian Community and the Ak-Chin Indian Community are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury to immediately release the money to the tribes.

The lawsuit specified the money be disbursed to federally recognized tribes and not to for-profit Alaska Native corporations that the plaintiffs said generate billions of dollars in revenue.

Before Trump's arrival in Arizona on Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced that it would be releasing 60% of the $8 billion in aid to tribes based on population data. Some elected officials are urging the Treasury Department to release the full amount immediately.

The department's announcement about releasing funding for tribes is "far too late," Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said Tuesday evening.

Nez said in a statement that the Treasury Department's decision to only release 60% of the money "indicates that they are going to continue to fund Alaska Native corporations."

"It’s shameful that the first citizens of this country are having to fight over and over for what is rightfully ours," Nez said. "Alaska Native Corporations should not receive funds that were specifically allocated for federally recognized tribes."

President Donald Trump points to a chart showing COVID-19 testing in the U.S compared with other countries during a roundtable discussion at Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Donald Trump points to a chart showing COVID-19 testing in the U.S compared with other countries during a roundtable discussion at Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Donald Trump signs a proclamation designating May 5, 2020, as Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day during a roundtable discussion at Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Donald Trump signs a proclamation designating May 5, 2020, as Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day during a roundtable discussion at Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Donald Trump walks down the stairs after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for a visit to Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Donald Trump is greeted by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for a visit to Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion with Native American leaders during a visit to Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Michael Chow/The Republic

May 2020: President Trump leaves Air Force One after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for a visit to Honeywell Aerospace's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Honeywell added manufacturing capabilities to produce N95 face masks in support of the government's response to COVID-19. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Trump leaves Air Force One after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for a visit to Honeywell Aerospace's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Honeywell added manufacturing capabilities to produce N95 face masks in support of the government's response to COVID-19. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Trump is greeted by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for a visit to Honeywell Aerospace's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Honeywell added manufacturing capabilities to produce N95 face masks in support of the government's response to COVID-19. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Trump is greeted by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for a visit to Honeywell Aerospace's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Honeywell added manufacturing capabilities to produce N95 face masks in support of the government's response to COVID-19. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Trump gives a thumbs up towards the media after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for a visit to Honeywell Aerospace's mask-making operation in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. Honeywell added manufacturing capabilities to produce N95 face masks in support of the government's response to COVID-19. Michael Chow/The Republic

President Donald Trump's supporters wait near the Honeywell Aerospace facility in Phoenix to cheer the president on May 5, 2020. Honeywell is making respirator masks to help meet demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Nick Oza/The Republic

Judy Freeze waits near the Honeywell Aerospace facility in Phoenix before President Donald Trump's visit on May 5, 2020. Honeywell is making respirator masks to help meet demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Nick Oza/The Republic

Dozens of people in #MAGA gear and other apparel in support of the President Donald Trump line up in the hopes of seeing the president as he enters Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. BrieAnna J. Frank/The Republic

Dozens of people in #MAGA gear and other apparel in support of the President Donald Trump line up in the hopes of seeing the president as he enters Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. BrieAnna J. Frank/The Republic

Dozens of people in #MAGA gear and other apparel in support of the President Donald Trump line up in the hopes of seeing the president as he enters Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix on May 5, 2020. BrieAnna J. Frank/The Republic

Supporters wait near the Honeywell Aerospace facility in Phoenix before President Donald Trump's visit on May 5, 2020. Honeywell is making respirator masks to help meet demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Nick Oza/The Republic

President Donald Trump's supporters wait near the Honeywell Aerospace facility in Phoenix before the president's visit on May 5, 2020. Honeywell is making respirator masks to help meet demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Nick Oza/The Republic

Julie Fisher, a supporter of President Donald Trump, takes a photo near the Honeywell Aerospace facility in Phoenix before the president's visit on May 5, 2020. Honeywell is making respirator masks to help meet demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Nick Oza/The Republic

President Donald Trump's supporters wait near the Honeywell Aerospace facility in Phoenix before the president's visit on May 5, 2020. Honeywell is making respirator masks to help meet demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Nick Oza/The Republic

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One for a trip to Phoenix to visit a Honeywell plant that manufactures protective equipment on May 5, 2020, in Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

President Donald Trump talks with members of the traveling press before departing Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on May 5, 2020. Trump is heading to Arizona and is expected to tour Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix. Susan Walsh/Associated Press

President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a trip to Phoenix to visit a Honeywell plant that manufactures protective equipment on May 5, 2020, in Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a trip to Phoenix to visit a Honeywell plant that manufactures protective equipment on May 5, 2020, in Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

A focus on American Indian issues

Trump talked about the CARES Act funds during a roundtable discussion on American Indian issues before his tour of the Honeywell International facility making N95 respirator masks.

Those in attendance included three Native American leaders: Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer; his wife, Second Lady Dottie Lizer; and Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community.

"Weeks ago, I signed the CARES Act, which includes $8 billion to help tribal governments, and I want to thank Sen. (Martha) McSally for fighting hard to get those funds and to get them here and get them to a lot of different people over the country, including the folks in this room," Trump said of the Arizona Republican.

A majority of the roundtable discussion was held privately. The final 30 minutes was viewed by members of the press and streamed online by various news outlets.

Lewis said the $8 billion will be “woefully inadequate" to meet current needs in native communities. He said he looks forward to the next relief bill for tribes that need it the most.

Native American tribes are disproportionately experiencing the consequences of #COVID19. The Navajo Nation has the third largest cluster of cases, behind only NY and NJ. After more than a month, tribes still haven’t received their CARES Act aid funds. https://t.co/U9DEUDcPcC

It was unclear why more of Arizona's federally recognized tribes were not included in the roundtable. Lizer told The Arizona Republic he would have liked more tribal representation.

The opportunity to be there with Lewis was "golden," he said.

"It's great, it's encouraging. Now let's use that and continue the dialogue, continue the great warm camaraderie with Indian country and this administration, that's what I'm all about," he said.

Lizer said he was "still trying to come to grips" with how the CARES Act funding was divvied up, adding that for decades Indian country has lagged, despite treaties in place with the federal government to help fund health care, education and infrastructure, among other needs.

The White House statement issued Tuesday said the Trump administration has distributed critical medical supplies to U.S. tribes and also allocated more than $1 billion through Indian Health Services to support tribes, tribal organizations and urban American Indian organizations in their coronavirus response.

U.S. Sen. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., in a statement Tuesday urged the U.S. Treasury Department to immediately release the full $8 billion in coronavirus relief funding.

"Tribal communities in Arizona need all available resources to fight the coronavirus pandemic now," she said. "While I am glad the federal government listened to our calls and released this funding, the Treasury Department must immediately disburse the total amount of the CARES Acts funding to Tribal communities; lives are depending on it."

Lizer said he advocated for the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act during the closed-door portion of the meeting. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, would provide water to at least parts of the nation via a successfully negotiated agreement between Utah, the U.S. and the Navajo Nation that requires congressional approval.

Lizer's goal in attending the event was to advocate for more resources and funding for water infrastructure to get clean water for more homes on the Navajo Nation, according to a statement from the tribe.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve heard concerns from families that don’t have running water to wash their hands and clean their homes, etc.," the statement said.

Navajo Nation has recorded 73 COVID-19 deaths

Trump added during his remarks about the American Indian funding that COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, "should have been contained from where it came."

As of Monday, the Navajo Nation had 2,474 identified COVID-19 cases and 73 deaths.

Lizer said the peak for cases on the Navajo Reservation is expected in mid-May.

Lewis and Lizer provided Trump with a summary of their tribes' COVID-19 cases, and Lizer also talked about the Navajo Nation's 57-hour weekend curfews. He said a lockdown in Gallup, New Mexico, has helped restrict movement but that some tribal residents still were traveling to other nearby cities such as Flagstaff and Farmington, New Mexico.

The Gila River Indian Community has tested more than 1,100 people and has had one fatality and 44 positive tests, Lewis told Trump.

The president, in his conversation with Lewis, mispronounced the tribe's name.

In addition to talking about COVID-19, Trump lauded his administration for its work on border walls in Arizona and California.

"People are so thrilled about the wall," he said.

The Tohono O'odham Nation, which has reservation land along the U.S. border with Mexico, did not have a representative at the roundtable and could not immediately be reached for comment. The tribe has previously spoken out against putting up a wall on its reservation, which includes land in the U.S. and Mexico.

Missing and murdered indigenous women

Trump on Tuesday also signed a presidential proclamation in Arizona designating May 5 as Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day.

Trump said that last year more than $270 million went to native communities to address the issue.

“It’s been a tremendous problem, missing and murdered American Indians,” he said, before deferring to Myron and Dottie Lizer to provide more details.

"We don't want to lose more of our native sisters and native mothers," Dottie Lizer told Trump. "So the cry is to get the awareness out because a lot of people don’t know of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and now it's hitting the LGBTQ community.”

Lizer said there's still a lack of awareness about the disproportionate number of native women who go missing and who are murdered.

“The Navajo Nation has been really hard hit by missing and murdered indigenous women," she said.

President Donald Trump signs a proclamation designating May 5, 2020, as Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day during a roundtable discussion at Honeywell International's mask-making operation in Phoenix.(Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)

She went on to say that the case of Ashlynne Mike — an 11-year-old girl abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered on the Navajo Nation in May 2016 — "opened the door for Navajo people to start saying, 'OK, we need to do something.'"

The case prompted calls to expand the Amber Alert system and the death penalty to U.S. tribal communities.

Lizer said while the tribe’s Amber Alert systems have improved, officials still need funding to gather better data about missing and murdered indigenous woman. She said Navajo Nation First Lady Phefelia Herbert-Nez was part of a task force focused on gathering data.

Trump said he’s “been hearing about this (issue) for a long time, for years and years” and that “this has been for many years, for many decades disproportionate” on tribal land.

Lizer and her husband said the problem extends to data collection on murdered and missing native women, because they are often incorrectly classified as Hispanic, particularly when they die off the reservation.

In November, Trump established Operation Lady Justice — an interagency task force charged with developing a government-wide strategy to address the crisis of missing and murdered women and girls in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who attended the roundtable, noted that in August he signed legislation establishing a 21-member Study Committee on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.